2016 Kyoto 3rd district by-election

A by-election for the Kyoto-3rd seat in the Japanese House of Representatives was held on 24 April 2016, coinciding with the by-election in Hokkaido. The seat became vacant after sitting member Kensuke Miyazaki resigned on 12 February 2016 in the midst of an extramarital affair scandal.^[1] Miyazaki, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, served the district from 2012. He defeated Democratic Party MP Kenta Izumi by slim margins in the 2012 (0.1%) and 2014 (2.7%) elections.

2016 Kyoto 3rd district by-election

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Kyoto 3rd district
Turnout	30.12%
Nominee Kenta Izumi Natsue Mori Yukiko Ono Party Democratic Ishin Japanese Kokoro Popular vote 65,051 20,710 6,449 Percentage 65.42% 20.83% 6.49%   Nominee Masafumi Tabuchi Mitsuko Ōyagi Akihiko Kōri Party Independent Happiness Realization Independent Popular vote 4,599 2,247 370 Percentage 4.63% 2.26% 0.37%
Representative before election Kensuke Miyazaki LDP Elected Representative Kenta Izumi Democratic

Izumi managed to wrest back his old seat by a landslide, eclipsing his nearest rival by 45 percentage points.^[2][3]

Outline

The district had 344,696 registered voters for the election, an increase of 0.12% since the 2014 general election.^[4] As the voting age for national elections was decreased to 18 years in June 2016,^[5] this by-election, along with the Hokkaido by-election, were the last national-level election with a minimum voting age of 20 years. The by-elections were the first national-level elections contested by the Democratic Party, Initiatives from Osaka party and Party for Japanese Kokoro under their respective current names.^[6] The Communist Party also chose not to field a candidate in the election, despite receiving 27,000 votes (16%) in the 2014 election.^[6]

Dates

• 16 March 2016 - Date of election announced
• 12 April 2016 - List of candidates published^[7]
• 13–23 April - Early-voting polling booths open^[8]
• 24 April 2016 - Polling day^[7]

Candidates

The by-election was a six-way race. The LDP decided against fielding a candidate due to the perceived anti-LDP sentiment in light of the Miyazaki scandal.^[9] Party bosses were also worried that a heavy defeat in Kyoto might affect LDP's campaign for the House of Councillors election in summer.^[10][11]

Candidates[6]
	Party for Japanese Kokoro	Yukiko Ono	Endorsed by the New Renaissance Party[6]
	Independent	Masafumi Tabuchi
	Happiness Realization Party	Mitsuko Ōyagi
	Initiatives from Osaka	Natsue Mori
	Democratic	Kenta Izumi	Endorsed by the Social Democratic Party.[6] Representative of the district for three terms (2003-2012). Lost the district in 2012 and 2014 but remained in the House via the Kinki PR block.
	Independent	Akihiro Kōri

Results

House of Representatives: Kyoto 3rd district by-election, 2016^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Kenta Izumi	65,051	65.42	32.31
	Ishin	Natsue Mori	20,710	20.83	5.82
	Japanese Kokoro	Yukiko Ono	6,449	6.49	N/A
	Independent	Masafumi Tabuchi	4,599	4.63	N/A
	Happiness Realization	Mitsuko Ōyagi	2,247	2.26	N/A
	Independent	Akihiko Kōri	370	0.37	N/A
Rejected ballots			4,224	4.08
Majority			44,341	44.59	42.8
Turnout			103,650[14]	30.12
	Democratic gain from LDP		Swing	N/A

Note:
¹ The percentage swing for the Democratic Party candidate is calculated based on the vote share obtained by its predecessor, DPJ.
² The percentage swing for the Initiatives from Osaka candidate is calculated based on the vote share obtained by its predecessor, Japan Innovation Party.